Fine Print: Buyers beware - unofficial Web sites can mark up tickets

Monday

Oct 26, 2009 at 12:01 AMOct 26, 2009 at 4:29 AM

The Boston Opera House reopened in 2004, and it still doesn't have the rights to BostonOperaHouse.com. But many ticket buyers think they're visiting the venue's official Web site when they go to that address.

The Boston Opera House reopened in 2004, and it still doesn't have the rights to BostonOperaHouse.com. But many ticket buyers think they're visiting the venue's official Web site when they go to that address.

If you go to the “tickets” link on the site, you'll end up at the Web site for Ace Ticket, a popular reseller of tickets in Boston. However, tickets can be twice as expensive as their original face value at a reseller such as Ace.

Opera House executive director Jim Jensen says his staff hears regularly from customers who think BostonOperaHouse.com is the venue's official Web site (although there are disclaimers on that site saying that it's not affiliated), and who believe the tickets they buy through the site are at face value prices. They realize their mistake when they get the tickets and see the actual face value is much less than what they paid.

Now that Live Nation has sold the Opera House to a local ownership group, Jensen is preparing to launch an official Web site for the venue. He says the domain name will likely be BostonOperaHouseOnline.com.

But Jensen says he is also trying to get the rights to BostonOperaHouse.com, which is the top ranked site on Google searches for “Boston Opera House.” Jensen says he met with Ace Tickets chief executive Jim Holzman to talk about the issue on Thursday, and that he's hopeful that the Opera House can secure its namesake domain soon.

The problem with the unofficial Web site should serve as a reminder: Never buy a ticket from a reseller without checking with the original ticketing company (such as Ticketmaster or Telecharge) first to see what's available. Resellers are great for that sold-out game or show, but can sometimes cost you a big markup for an event that isn't close to being sold out yet.